I haven’t been posting my tutorial topics in the last few weeks because much of my pre-tute time was taken up with marking and then (shock, horror) actually seeing students who wanted to talk about their grades and how they could improve what they’re doing.
Besides, last week was on fundamentalisms and I knew exactly the sorts of discussion I wanted to have on that, and the weekend before was the politics of reproduction, which, you know, I’m kind of an expert on right now.
However this week is trafficking and prosititution. I’ve had ex-girlfriends and current friends who have been sex workers. Part of the discusison for this week revolves around the issue of the terminology "sex work" and the attempt to legitimise the rape, sexual abuse and violence that goes along with much "sex work" as "just another difficult job". It attempts to equate the alienation of sex work with the alienation of all work. However, as the paper by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women that I just read suggests, there’s a difference between the exploitation of labour and the exploitation of intimacy.
I’ve been discussing this with Doug in the last few days as I’ve been building up to these tutes. We both agree that the current system is enormously problematic. The government benefiting from the exploitation of women in brothels as they currently exist is complicated. I agree with CATW that without legalised prostitution, trafficking wouldn’t have the wide market it currently has. Doug and I talked about the notions of ‘essential services’ for lonely people… and let’s face it, I’ve used Lifeline in that way as a depressed teenager. I didn’t *pay* for it, but the person I was speaking to was being paid to speak with me. That’s *very* different from being paid to have me violate their body, but I can see a connection in the roles. I think there may be a place for escort services that are companionship but NOT intimate.
I think where I’m at right now is: decriminalise women’s participation, criminalise pimping, trafficking and brothel-owning. I’m really, really unsure of what to do with the ‘customers’. Doug is adamant that solicitation shouldn’t be a crime.
I *think* what I’m going to do is have the students have a debate — it’s the last week, after all, and I think this one ought to be controversial. Of course, I could be wrong: the likelihood that any of them have ex-girlfriends who have been sex workers is slim. The likelihood that one of their old friends is involved with SWOP is slim. They may all have very commonplace moral outrage positions that prostitution is legal in this state. And the sorts of stats in the readings this week are horrendous. The incidence of rape, beatings etc, etc in regular sex work is an indication to me about the way that commodification of women’s bodies leads to a dehumanising of the person that permits this kind of behaviour. I’m leaning strongly towards a position of "prostitution is an affront to women’s dignity and a violation of their human rights".
The completely different image that both Doug and I have of the "temple whore" where respect for the divine feminine is the starting point of the interaction is so far from what we have now that I have no idea how to get there from here.